Frampton Comes Arena! (Tarantura TCDPETER-1-1,2)
Budokan, Tokyo, Japan – October 25th, 1978
Disc 1 (50:11): Introduction, All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side), Penny For Your Thoughts, Baby I Love Your Way, Something’s Happening, Doobie Wah, Lines On My Face, Show Me The Way, I Wanna Go To The Sun, Tried To Love, mc, It’s A Plain Shame
Disc 2 (39:56): mc, Do You Feel Like We Do, mc, band introduction, (I’m A) Road Runner, Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, mc, I’m In You
Frampton Comes Arena! is another new tape from the Mr. Peach archives and also Tarantura’s first release of a Peter Frampton title. After having major success with the live LP Frampton Comes Alive in 1976, this tour marks his first trip to Japan. The sound quality is very good to excellent, being clear and detailed, and captures a superb atmosphere.
The Japanese audience claps along in some songs but the music is much more powerful. There are a few cuts between tracks but no music is lost. The setlist weighs mostly on the Frampton Comes Alive LP with only two new compositions and a covers medley added to the show.
An older source tape has been released on silver disc before as Comes Arena on the Private Masters label which included a ticket replica. The older source is more distant and flat sounding and is overcome by crowd in places. The new Mr. Peach source is louder and punchier and is a much better sounding document.
Frampton displays his versatility as a solo artist and starts the show alone on acoustic guitar with “All I Want To Be” from his 1972 debut Wind Of Change. He continues with the acoustic instrumental “Penny For Your Thoughts” and demonstrates some nice fingerpicking. “We’d like to do you a love song” Frampton says before “Baby, I Love Your Way”. He is now joined by the rest of the band which consisted of Stanley Sheldon on bass, Joe Vitale on drums, and Bob Mayo on keys, guitars, and backing vocals for perhaps his most recognized hit to date.
Peter finally straps on the electric for “Something’s Happening” and the energy starts to pick up, continuing into a very funky “Doobie Wah”. Both his guitar tone and selection of notes really provide a distinctive guitar style and “Lines On My Face” and has some of his best playing of the night.
“Show Me The Way” gets a huge response and features the first glimpse of his talk box tonight. “Tried To Love” is the first track from the new LP to be featured and is followed by another one of his stand outs, “It’s A Plain Shame”.
“Do You Feel Like We Do” is the same 15 minute arrangement used for Frampton Comes Alive stretching out the track with an electric piano spotlight on Bob Mayo and of course, his famous talk box section. Mayo’s piano solo is very jazzy here with some brilliant playing and worth the price of the set alone. After the band introductions Frampton announces “a Motown medley” including “Roadrunner” and “Signed Sealed Delivered”, both of which were recorded for the I’m In You record.
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is a very different take on the Stones track and has always been a staple in his live set. He returns to end the show on a softer note with his latest single, “I’m In You”. Peter is accompanied only by Bob Mayo on piano and backing vocals.
Frampton Comes Arena! from Tarantura is an excellent title from a truly underrepresented artist on silver and the label should be commended for their expanding variety of releases. It comes packaged in a gatefold paper sleeve and is a must have for Frampton fans.
3 Comments
The collective reviews by wgpsec and LedMan convinced me to get this title, and their words have been completely supported. This is a beautiful presentation of what was clearly an amazing concert experience. It’s so true that portions of the audience reaction harken back to hysteria about early Beatles, and this recording captured that perfectly. And the music’s recorded flawlessy, rightly prompting the attribution inside of the jacket to the “Tape Archivist: Mr. Peach.” A superb release all the way around.
The wait was worth it. This Mr. Peach source is superb and a real joy to listen to. Bob Mayo added so much to this band not only playing keyboards but backing guitar. Mayo has played with Robert Plant during “The Principle Of Moments” tour and also played the keyboards for Foreigners “Waiting On A Girl Like You” and these are only a few contributions to rock. Sadly he passed away in 2004 during a tour with Frampton. Just a little background on this talented artist. Listening to this show I can hear that Frampton was overjoyed about his first trip to Japan and the girls were going wild. Reminds me of listening to a Beatles show. LOL!!! For anyone that’s interested in Frampton this is a must and a release that will not collect dust on your shelves. The beautiful pics on the inside of gatefold appear to come from this concert which only adds to the beautiful packaging. I can’t say enough but will digress and hope another CMR member has purchased and will leave their comments.
I’m looking forward to this one. I bought “Frampton Comes Alive” when released and it was constantly in rotation. I also picked up the deluxe CD edition which includes extra live tracks.